Latina commentator makes AMAZING point about the Tucson shooting on NPR

[bullwinkle428]

"It's safe to say there was a collective sigh of brown relief when the Tucson killer turned out to be a 'gringo'. Had the shooter been Latino, media pundits wouldn't be discussing the impact of nasty politics on a young man this week — they'd be demanding an even more stringent anti-immigrant policy. The new members of the House would be stepping over each other to propose new legislation for more guns on the border, more mothers to be deported, and more employers to be penalized for hiring brown people. Obama would be attending funerals and telling the nation tonight that he was going to increase security just about everywhere."

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/12/132865098/in-tucson-a-sigh-of-relief-from-latino-community

She is absolutely CORRECT. The new Tea-bagging asshats in the House would be screaming for Latino blood from the rooftops, and who knows how many state house legislatures would be attempting to up the ante on Arizona's SB1070?

[bdamomma]

1. and remember Daniel Hernandez a latino saved Rep. Giffords

Jan Brewer suck on it.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

30. K&R

[blondeatlast]

2. !Verdad! k/r/nt

[bullwinkle428]

3. Shameless kick!

:hide:

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Sometimes it takes the right person to say something that others have pointed out,

to finally get through. And she said it beautifully.

[slackmaster]

5. I heard that. It made me stop in my tracks.

It's unfortunate that we've gotten to the point where people feel that way.

[NOLALady]

6. I said the same thing to hubby.

If the killer was brown or black, there would be a totally different narrative. I really doubt there would be such a focus on the very real failures of the mental health care system..

[jtown1123]

7. I took and gender, race and the media course. Like clockwork, black crime makes people say oh he was

violent or came from a troubled neighborhood. White crime? Oh he had a mental illness. Like clockwork.

[pampango]

16. In Arizona if the killer had been Hispanic (or a Muslim, I suppose) the focus wouldn't be on mental

health care system and its failures.

The fact that the killer is an American white (and not an illegal Hispanic, a fanatical Muslim, or a violent African American, perhaps highlights that the fact that we spend too much of our time worrying about the possible societal impacts of these small segments of the minority community and less on structuring society so that it responds to the needs of everyone.

[Action]

50. Hello?

Please explain. I have no idea what you mean.

[DallasNE]

51. So Far It Has Only Been Lip Service

I haven't heard of any legislation being proposed that would address the mental health issue. The problem started when President Ronald Reagan had all of the State run mental hospitals closed without any follow-up to replace them with community based facilities as promised. Now, nobody wants to return to the abused State run mental hospitals as they were a disgrace. A big roadblock has been what to do with adults that do not consent. It's complicated but something with safeguards needs to be done.

[justiceischeap]

8. Raul Labrador named one of five most successful Tea Party candidates in 2010

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/raul-labrador-named-one-of-five-most-successful-tea-party-candidates-2010

It would certainly be hypocritical for the Tea Party to lambast Latino's when one of their own is considered one of the top 5 candidates.

[bullwinkle428]

14. Sure it's hypocritical, but did that stop Sharron Angle from

using that tactic? Computer says "NO"!

[Enthusiast]

33. Yeah?

The Tea Party sucks! The Tea Party might not be 100% racist -just 99%. And the Tea Party is 100% ignorant.

[MindandSoul]

9. Unfortunately, she is correct!

[Gothmog]

10. She made a good point

I listened to this interview yesterday and was impressed

[kctim]

11. I agree, amazing point

but if it is such an amazing point, why is it OK to be screaming for right-wing blood from the rooftops, and attempting to up the ante on free speech and gun control legislation?

I am proud President Obama did not stoop to such partisanship and fear. I expected such fairness from him and am proud I voted for him. And it is insulting that she suggests President Obama would use this terrible tragedy politically if the shooter had been a 'latino.' Almost as insulting as reading that she places more value on the surname than she does on the tragedy.

[Bette Noir]

23. I think you're misreading. Obama wouldn't have villified a Latino shooter for being Latino.

The Anglo population of AZ would have, and the right-wing punditocracy.

I did notice that the gentleman who gave the invocation was widely vilified by the right wing. My take on him was that, in spite of his family living in the same Arizona valley for five generations, he would certainly have been singled out as an "illegal" by the AZ police.

[kctim]

49. No

"Obama would be attending funerals and telling the nation tonight that he was going to increase security just about everywhere"

She is very clearly saying that President Obama would have reacted differently if the shooter would have been latino. That President Obama would give speeches telling people how he would protect them from latinos. That President Obama would capitalize on the tragedy if the shooter was latino.

President Obama is a fair and honorable man who strives to represent ALL Americans. He has done nothing which merits such a gross assault on his character.

[Hello_Kitty]

12. "more employers to be penalized for hiring brown people.."

I'm so sick of the way business owners have insinuated themselves into the immigration human rights narrative. Employers NEVER get punished. The employer sanctions laws are used to round up the workers because the business community has made sure that it's damn difficult to prove that an employer "knowingly" hired an undocumented worker.

Sorry to go OT but the business community has had 24 years to get their act together and they haven't. If they weren't so greedy and lazy we wouldn't have this illegal immigration situation.

[Jamastiene]

13. She nailed it.

K&R

[Major Hogwash]

18. Yup.

And we know it.

[Cleita]

15. What's really ironic is that the young man who saved

Congresswoman Gifford's life, a Mexican American, probably had ancestors who were immigrants. Imagine if they had been kept out because they were brown people, that young man would not have been there to save her life.

[Bette Noir]

25. Not necessarily. The Southwest used to be part of Mexico.

Many Latino citizens in the Southwest have deeper roots in the area than the Anglos who persecute us.

My mother was no immigrant to this country, nor were any of her ancestors. Her family were citizens by virtue of American conquest of their ancestral land.

[Enthusiast]

34. Thank you for reminding

those DUers that don't know history.

[moose65]

47. Amen!

That's one thing that pisses me off about this whole "illegal alien" thing. There are Latino families in the Southwest whose ancestors were here long before any English people came to America. People absolutely DO NOT know the history of their own country, one-third of which used to be part of Mexico, and was part of Mexico a lot longer than it has been part of the United States. There are people in Texas who are Americans just because their ancestors happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time!

[Cleita]

54. That goes without saying, here in California too.

What I was saying was he probably could also have been the son of immigrants which makes the rush to demonize Latinos with that law they passed on the part of Arizona even more ironic.

[newtothegame]

17. Fantastic. I was wondering when race would become an isse in the shooting.

We ALMOST made it a week.

[RainDog]

19. since the tea baggers have made race an issue since 2008

and the anti-immigration rhetoric and ACTIONS in Arizona have been extreme against Latinos - led, again, by the right wing - and since many people assumed the person carrying this out was a right winger in Arizona who was one of those Giffords spoke about earlier in the year with their dangerous rhetoric -

racism (not simply race, but, please, face it, the RACISM OF THE TEA BAGGERS) has been an issue for more than two years and is intrinsic to any talking point from the tea baggers who "want their country back."

you cannot really try to claim that racism is not a part of the current vitriol from the right with any seriousness.

[hay rick]

21. +1.

[Enthusiast]

35. If not for President Obama's race

the Tea Party would not exist.

[LisaL]

24. Almost a whole week? Amazing, considering this is DU.

[RainDog]

29. yeah

what a drag for white people to have to hear about the general tenor of society for people of color.

[Bette Noir]

26. It's not that race became an issue in the shooting. It is that race has been an issue

in Arizona, most acutely since the Republican legislature and governor made it virtually illegal to be a brunette in that state.

Call it what you will, but anyone who can be arrested for his/her looks has reason to complain.

[CakeGrrl]

31. There was some Repub/Teabagger speculation within hours on Fox News

that the shooter may have been Mexican, and the first confirmations were pointedly made that he was white.

In the state that's been trying so hard to force people to show documentation at traffic stops?

The racial bias in this country made it possible for people to believe Susan Smith in SC when she claimed a black man kidnapped her two young boys when she actually drove them into that lake, or Charles Stuart when he said he and his pregnant wife were carjacked in Boston by a black man, when he in fact pulled the trigger. Black suspects were sought out with lightning speed.

Anyone remember Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam" about NYC during the Son of Sam spree? After getting confirmation about Berkowitz as the suspect, one African-American woman remarked "Thank God he isn't black". Well, that's why.

The reaction to the shooter has proved the point to some extent. A Muslim or Latino shooter would be blamed because of his religion or skin color. A white shooter? Must be his mental health. What else COULD it be?

:eyes:

[Enthusiast]

36. The election of Obama proved

that America is no longer racist!


:sarcasm:

[newtothegame]

45. Man, then you must have been RABIDLY angry at the media during the D.C. sniper shootings...

for running forensic testimony that the shooter, who turned out to be an African-American Muslim and a black child no less, must be a lone white gunman.

[liberation]

32. Another point missed...

... add it to the tab.

[southmost]

37. if the shooter was anything other than white

race would have been an issue in a nanosecond

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

41. Race is obviously not the issue. Religion may be.

A good Aryan nutcase might be incensed by a Jewish congresswoman.

But his motive may not be so obvious. It may be some reasoning that we mortals could not possibly understand.

[fascisthunter]

46. you seem to have an issue with race in politics in general

[BrklynLiberal]

20. So true. If the shooter had been of the Muslim faith, the screaming would have been ear-shattering.

No mention would have been made of his mental state or any other factors except his faith.

[Zoeisright]

22. Well, if that isn't absolutely fucking true.

And if he'd been Muslim, the right wing assholes would be screaming about that too. But because he's white, they immediately get all defensive.

Why don't their heads spin around 360 degrees? Because their heads are NOT securely attached to their bodies.

[jonthebru]

27. I really like NPR.

[Joe Fields]

28. She is 100% correct. Unfortunate, but oh so true.

Thank the lord it didn't go down that way.

[DissedByBush]

38. When is an employer penalized for hiring someone because he's brown?

Sounds like another dishonest person who wants to confuse legal with illegal immigration.

[pampango]

43. The conservative groups that oppose illegal immigration also want to limit/stop legal immigration.

They want their country back and an influx of foreigners doesn't jibe with that goal.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and NumbersUSA, along with the Tea Party seem to realize that pushing an anti-illegal immigrant message is a smart tactic to get them to their goal of shutting off all immigration.

They believe that opposing illegal immigration wins them support from independents and some liberals who otherwise support legal immigration while fostering an "us (Americans) vs. them (foreigners)" mentality that will serve them well when they next seek to limit or shut off legal immigration.

Also many think that employers will require "brown" applicants to jump through more hoops since they are perceived to be more likely to be "illegal".

[DissedByBush]

48. I'm against illegal immigration

I support throwing out illegals when discovered and heavily penalizing companies who hire them.

But my wife is a LEGAL immigrant, and I myself am a former LEGAL immigrant to another country, so you can't say I'm anti-immigrant.

If nothing else, I'm more against illegals because my wife and I took the time and effort to become legal, so we despise those who don't think they should have to be bothered.

Back to my question, when are any employers penalized for hiring "brown" employees?

Knowingly hiring illegal aliens, sure. But the due diligence that is done in any job hiring protects them from penalties.

[mikekohr]

39. Remember Juan Romero, the busboy that knelt by RFK's side and pressed Rosary Beads into his hands

as he lay stricken on a California hotel floor and heard the Senator's last words, "Is everyone all right?"

[lunatica]

40. A bunch of DUers mentioned this, myself among them

Loughner is a white American terrorist.

[theaocp]

42. Everything makes sense, except

there being a "problem" with penalizing employers for "hiring brown people." I must add the distinction that I mean ILLEGAL people, and I believe those that hire them SHOULD be penalized SEVERELY. That and that alone will put an end to problems with illegal immigration. Otherwise, huge K&R. :)

[judesedit]

44. Same when it was McVeigh. Hardly a thing was brought up about his "whiteness" or religion

The ones that rant on those issues are purely racist. That is what is driving them.

While we're talking about it....there are no jobs because the corporations shipped them all out of the country. And are still doing so. The lily-white lobbyists just hope you buy their bull blaming immigrants and illegal aliens...while they laugh all the way to the foreign bank so they don't have to pay taxes to help maintain the good ol' USA and bring down the deficit. But they want all the perks, don't they?

If they were smart the top 2% would all put up money to get the country out of the hole. Then they could go brag about how much they did, and continue living the high life in peace and dignity. But do you really think the sickeningly selfish, greedy bastards would part with a penny of their blood money? No way. They will let every child starve and not bat an eye. Eternity is a long time and the law of balance is always in effect. I honestly would rather be me.

[AmandaMae]

52. sadly she's completely right

[defendandprotect]

53. Lovely point -- and so true ...

[benEzra]

55. Very good point. Same as if he were Muslim, or gay, or otherwise "Other".

They'd use this as a club to demonize them as a group, there'd be political cartoons caricaturing the group, and there'd be threads all over the 'net talking about how evil this group is and how "something needs to be done."